The background behind the Network Hawk (NH) project was to create a stand-alone network monitor capable of giving the user a real handle on how networks actually interact. It is convenient to think of a network communication as happening directly between your computer and another one on the other side of the building or the other side of the world. But the reality is much more than that. There are DNS servers involved, gateway routers, firewalls and all sorts of other hosts that your data must pass through on it"s way to it"s destination.
NH was developed to aid lecturers and teachers in properly demonstrating what really happens behind the scenes on networks. From the developer"s own experiences, we know that white boards and network diagrams don"t always cut it - often they are just simplified versions of what"s really happening. The 3D virtual world generated by NH provides a birds-eye view of the network, letting students see exactly what the sequence of events are in bringing up a website, or sending an email.
The suite of software that comes bundled with NH is specifically designed with educators in mind. For instance, while it will model your network in vivid three dimensions, it also includes the capacity to simulate a virtual network. This is ideal for when the local area network is not large enough or lacks necessary elements to fully explain the concept you are teaching.
Also included in the NH software suit is the ability to record a network capture to your database and then play it back later, as frequently as you want. This allows you to record a specific network event and then replay it to numerous classes without needing to reconfigure NH or the network. Recording traffic exchanges can even be replayed by students later on their own time, if they need to refamiliarize themselves with the concepts discussed.
At a fundamental level, NH can be run in three separate modes - local, distributed and simulated. Local mode is the default setting and means that the computer running the 3D Viewer software will also spawn the Agent software, which is the component that sniffs the network traffic and record it to disk. Distributed mode allows for the Agent software to be run anywhere on the network and to record its data into a MySQL database. From there it can be replied by anyone on the network using the Viewer software. The distributed mode implements the simple-to-use recording and playback features of NH, allowing you to record network interacts for playback later in class or by students themselves. The final mode, simulated, allows you to specify a virtual network of whatever size you want so that you can simulate a network of much larger size than the one you actually have access to.
It must be said that NH is largely an experiment in networking education. It includes features and concepts that have never been produced elsewhere. As such we provide all registered users with 100% free support via our Support Center and our unparalleled 100% money back guarantee. We think you"ll find NH very useful, but if you don"t - we"ll be there to make sure you don"t feel cheated.
Click to visit the Network Hawk Website.